Page 35 - SpringBoard_CloseReading_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

Close Reading of argumentative nonfiction Texts (continued)
ACTIvITy 4
Synthesizing Texts
Your teacher may choose or ask you to choose one of the following assessments as a way of showing your understanding of the texts you have read.
Writing Prompt: You have studied two speeches delivered by American presidents on topics related to national security threats. Review the different occasions for these two speeches, and consider how and why a president might use a different tone for an audience of foreign allies than he might for the citizens of his own country. Compare and contrast how each president uses tone and other persuasive techniques to reach their particular audience. Use evidence from both speeches to support your analysis.
Debate/Discussion: Conduct a Socratic Seminar. Work with a small group of students to revisit both texts and review and create two or three additional open- ended, text-dependent questions for each speech. Remember that your open- ended questions should not have a yes or no answer, but should be questions that will encourage a rich discussion. With your questions and your annotated text in front of you, engage with your peers in a Socratic Seminar in which you share your questions and respond to the questions that other students have generated.
Multimedia Presentation: You have analyzed Reagan’s speech in both its written and spoken form and considered how his delivery enhanced the impact of his written words. Visit a Web site such as the Miller Center’s Presidential Speech Archive or American Rhetoric to find another speech by an American president that is available in both text and video. Choose a short section of the speech to compare and contrast, analyzing how the delivery of the speech affects the impact of the words. Consider using presentation software to share your findings with the class.
Reflection
Think about what you have learned from your close reading and analysis of the text passages you have read in this workshop.
1. America’s presidents must make convincing speeches on a regular basis. How does a president use the ideals and values of America’s history to help convince a sometimes-resistant audience?
2. In this workshop, you have learned how to make meaning of three different texts. How can you use what you have learned to help you as you encounter challenging texts in the future? What strategies best helped you as a learner during this workshop? When and why would you use these strategies in the future?
34 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 7
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